Connectors for hollow, fluid-carrying conduits or tubes have been realized in a great variety of types and shapes. These connectors include threaded fittings, push-fit connectors, flange and/or hinge-based fittings, as well as barb fittings.
In certain applications, connectors are desired for coupling conduits to other structures, such as other conduits, or to a fitting, manifold, etc. In one embodiment, it may be desirable to connect a conduit to a manifold of, for instance, a liquid-cooled assembly configured to facilitate providing cooling to at least one electronic component of an electronics rack, that is, to facilitate removal of heat generated by the electronic component(s).
Additionally, in certain applications, connectors are desired for coupling differently-sized fluid flow components. Conventional techniques for configuring connectors to couple and transition between fluid flow components with different internal flow diameters typically require additional space in order to facilitate the transition. This can be a disadvantage where space is limited, such as is the case of a fluid-cooled assembly for an electronics rack.